Champagne Demand to Get Lift From Olympic, Royal Toasts in 2012

Champagne demand may accelerate this year as London hosts the Olympic Games and consumers in emerging markets drink more of the sparkling wine, according to an industry group.

The Olympic host country saw orders rise about 10 percent on average during the last five rounds of games, said Francoise Peretti, director of the Champagne Bureau, the U.K. arm of Comite Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne. Shipments to the U.K. also rose 26 percent in 2002 as revelers celebrated Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden Jubilee, she said.

“Champagne is the ultimate drink of celebration,” Peretti said in a phone interview. With the Olympics and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee taking place this year in the U.K., “we can be expecting the first export market to be drinking its fair share.”

Meanwhile, surging wealth in Russia, Latin America and Asia “is fueling the appetite for luxury goods and champagne is part of the super-premium experience,” she said.